York High School’s Aaron Todd (center) goes up to shoot while defended by Traip Academy’s Cam Cavanagh (left) and Chris Czachor during Tuesday’s boys basketball game in Kittery, Maine. The Wildcats beat the Rangers, 68-39.

Unbeaten York boys pull away for win over Traip

By Mike Zhe

mzhe@seacoastonline.com

December 19, 2012 - 2:00 AM

KITTERY, Maine — Jeremy Paul saw the scoreboard, saw the time remaining in the second quarter, saw the way his Traip Academy boys basketball team was playing and felt pretty good.

It might have been a bit of an exaggeration to say that Traip had unbeaten York right where it wanted it shortly before halftime Tuesday night, but it wouldn't have been an outright lie.

The Class C Rangers were within range of their Class B foes, trailing just 25-18 and riding a little wave of momentum, when leading scorer Atencio Martin was called for an offensive foul, his third of the game, and was relegated to the bench for the rest of the half.

York (5-0) inflated its lead to 33-20 by halftime, and then laid waste to the home team during a dominant third quarter. It all added up to a 68-39 win that had one team leaving the gym happy and the other bucking up and touting a first half full of positives.

"A lot more good things tonight than bad things," said Paul, whose team dropped to 2-3. "We just talked in the locker room: If we take the (first) 16 minutes and can find a way to play like that for 32 minutes, we're only going to get better down the road."

"We don't really care who gets the points," said Leal, a 6-foot-4 senior. "It's something that just happens."

"Just what we want," said York coach Randy Small, whose team got half its points from reserves, many when the outcome was still in doubt. "I thought our bench came in and played phenomenal."

The Wildcats, who began the night as one of just two remaining unbeatens in Western B — with Falmouth — close out the pre-holiday portion of their schedule at home against Freeport on Thursday.

For Traip, the issue all season has been who can complement the 6-foot-3 Martin offensively. He led all scorers with 13 points, but spent more time than his team would have preferred on the bench after picking up his third foul with 3:07 to play before halftime.

Leal hit a free throw following that foul and then Thomas Kinton made a jumper the next time down to put York up 28-18. It was 33-20 at halftime.

"When a kid as an athletic as he is leaves the game, we have to take advantage of it," said Leal.

Still, no reason for panic in the home locker room.

"We talked about the first couple minutes of the third quarter being real important," said Paul. "I thought we had some good looks; we just didn't convert."

In fact, the Rangers would not score a point until Nick Foye made a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left. By that point, York had run away and hidden.

"The first half (Traip) played hard, real hard," said Small. "They played hard all game. But I don't think we matched their intensity in the first half. We came out after halftime with a lot more intensity."

Junior guard Michael Gallagher, who had a strong quarter at both ends of the floor, opened things with a jumper. Leal put back a rebound to make it 37-20 and prompting the Rangers to call a time-out.

The run, spanning two quarters, would eventually reach 25-0 before Foye hit the trey for Traip at the end of the third, his team's only points, though it missed all four of its free-throw attempts.

"We work on defense every day," said Small. "That's what we strive for."

Paul said he was pleased with the way his team handled York's pressure, especially in the first half. The Rangers are striving for patience offensively and valuing the ball, instead of forcing shots and drives and watching the turnovers pile up.

"We were up against it with them being as athletic as they are, but we didn't have a hard time with possession," said Paul.

The next step is finding others to pick up the scoring slack, especially against strong teams. The Rangers will play eight games against Class B teams in the regular season.